Who is Ricky Bradshaw?
by Jeremiah Seraphine | Published November 2007 | Features Archives
When Ricky Bradshaw's massive underground hit "Black Keys (Filtered Jazz Mix)" hit the streets in 1999, vinyl was still king among Househeads. Chicago's House scene was vibrant and ubiquitous. Karma, Mad Bar, and Red Dog were in full swing, and it was the year of the first 3 Degrees Wednesday party. It was a time when many of us believed that House Music would change the world.
Along with nearly every other house DJ on the planet, I bought Ricky Bradshaw's Jump Skip EP on Bad Boy Bill's label, Moody Recordings. The record was a fusion of the hot new jazz-infused funky House sound and filtered disco elements popularized by Daft Punk and Chicago's Afterhours Records imprint. But it was the song "Black Keys (Filtered Jazz Mix)" that embodied this sound and carried with it a timeless quality.
Later that year Mark Farina, who had already reached superstar status, selected "Black Keys" to be featured in his first House mix compilation for OM Records entitled San Francisco Sessions. The project was an instant classic making Mark Farina a household name.
The album's success also drew attention to the individual songs and their creators. After checking the books six years later, Ricky Bradshaw discovered that "Black Keys" had sold over a half million units.
If I didn't know better, I might be inclined to attribute a large part of this success to luck. However, I recently had the chance to interview Ricky Bradshaw, and I am here to tell you that his success is deserved, if not a birthright. Furthermore, he is poised to become a very real player in the music industry reaching beyond the confines of the House genre.
Ricky Bradshaw grew up on the West Side of Chicago, but his childhood was quite a bit different than most. His mom was and is a professional vocalist, and his uncle a major label producer. Instead of memories of family dinners and sitting around the television, Ricky describes late night jam sessions in his basement where Rufus and Chaka Khan were regulars.
Between sets, a six-year-old Ricky would jump on the drums and bang out the rhythms he had just heard. His ear for music impressed every one who witnessed him in action. During our interview Ricky recounted the story of his first live performance.
"I would watch the drummer. He looked like he was having the most fun to me. I learned the songs. So when they finished practicing they would have a meeting about what they were going to do next and the drummer would lower the seat for me. And I'd get up there and play the drums. A lot of times they would notice I was playing the set back so they would come back a jam a few songs with me to see which ones I knew. So after a while this became a ritual for the band.
"One time we went to Champaign, Illinois for a show. I went with my mother to soundcheck 'cause I was like 'I wanna see yall do that.' So she took me with her. After they were done I got up there like I always did and started playing the drums and they came back and jammed with me.
"The owner of the club walked in and he freaked out and said 'Who's the little dude on the drums!?' He made them put me in the show. He said, 'I gotta have him in the show. I'll pay you extra to have him in the show.'
"So, I was in the show. 'Play that Funky Music White Boy' by Wild Cherry - that was the song I played. I was six years old. From then I decided I wanted to do music."
Ricky Bradshaw's mother is the dance music diva Shawn Christopher. She was a back up singer for Chaka Khan and solidified her solo career with the 1991 Billboard hit, "Another Sleepless Night" on Arista Records. A year later in 1992 she dropped the #1 smash hit "Don't Loose the Magic" from her album Reaching For a Star. Over the years she has released a huge catalogue of both mainstream and underground burners. One of her more notable House Music recordings was Lil' Louis's mega hit "French Kiss".
As his mother's "personal tour manager," Ricky toured extensively around the world. He would routinely find himself spinning opening sets, recording the show tapes, helping the sound guy, and even performing on stage with his famous mother.
The year 1999, when Ricky Bradshaw's Jump Skip EP was released, also saw the debut of Napster and the birth of the Power Mac computer, which marked a paradigm shift in music. Soon the music industry would report major declines in sales due to file sharing, which was then exasperated by a downturn in the national economy. The rave scene, which had spawned the latest generation of House Music lovers, was in its death throes, making it unclear where new House Music enthusiasts would come from. It wasn't apparent in 1999, but there were big changes in store for the industry.
When I called Ricky to set up the interview, he was buying a 9Volt power adapter for his Serato. Like many DJs, he has opted for spinning digital music rather than vinyl. The way he explains it is, "I can bring 70,000 songs with me and go anywhere musically that I want to." He went on to explain that one's art isn't defined by the brush one uses but rather by the art itself.
"I play the CD players like I play the sampler in my studio," he says. "I do a stutter step with my finger or backtrack the record or other stuff like that - stuff that other DJs aren't even doing. I see what is playing as a wave form, and I chop it up and do remixes on the fly making it interesting.
"People say, 'I've never heard this version before.' I tell them that's because I just made it up. People should stop getting so bent out of shape about technology."
I was struck by the ease to which Ricky has adapted to change. He seems to react to new things just like he did when he was a six year old watching the drummer in his mother's band - he just steps right up and plays. He doesn't complain: he simply works with what is around him. This, I think, is one of the keys to his success.
In a time when most House producers either need a day job or are forced to take on grueling touring schedules, Ricky has once again adapted so he can work on music full time while maintaining a comfortable lifestyle. The bulk of his income comes from creating jingles for the Opera Winfrey Show, Miller Brewing, Gatorade, Anheiser Busch, and various ad agencies. It keeps him sharp in the studio.
However, Ricky doesn't consider himself a musician despite the fact that he has been playing the drums since the age of six. Maybe this is because he has been surrounded by professional musicians his entire life or because he is a generally humble cat - or, most likely, both. This self-proclaimed non-musician can be put in a room with instruments and get the sounds he wants out of them. He can't read or write sheet music but he can clearly communicate his vision to session players in the studio. Not bad for a "non-musician."
Ricky is currently plugging away on remix work for DJ Storm's projects on Shelter Records and Large Music as well as a remix for Roy Davis Jr.'s forthcoming album. Two albums he is currently recording are slated to drop in 2008 on his new label Rough Grooved Surface.
The first project is an album he is producing for his mother, Shawn Christopher. Ricky brightened up when he described the project, telling me that no one to date has written the perfect music for his mother's voice.
"It's something I was meant to do," he said with quiet confidence. He then went on to describe how his huge hit back in 1999 grew into his next solo album.
"Every time I do a track I make several versions and I pick then I pick one. There were a bunch of other versions [of "Black Keys"] and I went back and started listening to those. It spawned a bunch of other tracks - some of them are vocals.
"Then my uncle, Gavin Christopher, (a writer/producer/singer who worked with Rufus, Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock, Grandmaster Flash and Quincy Jones) listened to the jazz tracks and he liked them. So he wrote so stuff to them. I got him on my album; I got my mother on my album. I did some jazz riffs on one which is like a George Benson guitar track - it is a remix of 'Ricky's Guitar' from the Jump Skip EP."
It looks as though 2008 will be a huge year for Ricky Bradshaw, with two full-length albums dropping that will feature new versions of massive hits as well as the vocals from industry heavyweights Shawn and Gavin Christopher. Also in the works are a host of remixes, and even a score for a Hollywood motion picture.
For bookings, visit chicagosoundsource.com. Photos for this interview © Urban.Hues.Imagery [urban.hues@mac.com].
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